Washington (CNN) - What Congress needs to do in terms of signing off on a military strike in Syria or elsewhere is a subject of debate.

While only Congress can officially declare war, legislators have not taken that step since World War II. The conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya were all fought without a formal declaration.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - The Senate voted Wednesday to confirm B. Todd Jones as head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, giving the politically controversial agency its first permanent director since 2006.

Senators voted 53-42 to approve Jones - the ATF's acting director since the fall of 2011 - shortly after he received the bare 60 votes needed to clear a key procedural hurdle.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - A key Senate committee unveiled legislation Monday to keep the government funded through the end of September while reducing the impact of $85 billion in forced spending cuts on a number of major federal programs.

The full Democratic-controlled Senate is expected to vote on the Appropriations Committee's spending bill, known in Washington as a continuing resolution, before the end of the week. The measure builds on a bill passed by the Republican-run House of Representatives on March 6.